Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Herning Herning () is a Denmark, Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 51,782 (1 January 2025)

and

Ikast Ikast is a Danish town in Central Denmark Region (''Region Midtjylland''). It is the seat of Ikast-Brande Municipality since 2007. It was the seat of the former Ikast Municipality. Geography The town is situated in the middle of Jutland. The ...

. The club is the result of a merger between

Ikast FS Ikast FC is an association football club based in the town of Ikast, Denmark, that competes in the Jutland Series, the sixth tier of the Danish football league system and the first tier of the regional DBU Jutland. Founded in 2018 as a superst ...

and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

, which they have won four times, most recently in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

. Midtjylland is known as one of the best football clubs in the western part of Jutland. Having had international stars playing for the club, such as

Mohamed Zidan Mohamed Abdallah Mohamed Zidan (; born 11 December 1981) is an Egyptian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Early career Mohamed Zidan was born in Port Said to an Egyptian family. His career started as a s ...

and

Alexander Sørloth Alexander Sørloth (born 5 December 1995) is a Norwegian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Atlético Madrid and the Norway national football team, Norway national team. ...

. Midtjylland also has the oldest and one of the best and most respected football academies in Scandinavia. The academy has produced multiple Danish national team players, such as

Simon Kjær Simon Thorup Kjær (; born 26 March 1989) is a Danish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. Kjær was named 2007 Danish Football Player of the Year#Young Players of the Year, Danish under-19 talent o ...

Joachim Andersen Joachim Andersen may refer to: *Joachim Andersen (composer) (1847–1909), Danish composer *Joachim Andersen (footballer) Joachim Christian Andersen (; born 31 May 1996) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre back for club F ...

, and Rasmus Kristensen.

Club history

FC Midtjylland was founded by Johnny Rune, a carpenter and owner of a private business in the wood-supply industry, and Steen Hessel, an authorized

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

dealer. The two men wanted to unite the football clubs

(founded 1935) and Herning Fremad (founded 1918) – clubs that for decades had been strong rivals, but had never played any significant role in Danish football. Ikast FS had some success in the late 1970s and '80s and made three

Danish Cup The Danish Cup (; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "single-elimination tournament, knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will ...

final appearances, but had never been a top team in the Danish league. At least ten years had passed with the two clubs being unable to agree on a merger, but on 6 April 1999, a deal was finalised and announced at a press conference the next day. In 2000, Midtjylland were promoted to the top-flight

after a season in which the team had gathered more points than any other team in the history of the first division. In July 2014,

Matthew Benham Matthew Alexander Benham (born May 1968) is a British businessman who is the owner of English Premier League club Brentford. He is also the founder and owner of Smartodds, a statistical research company for professional gamblers, and owner of M ...

(owner of English club

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

) became the majority shareholder of Midtjylland's parent company FCM Holding. In the 2014–15 season, they won the

Danish football championship The Danish football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in Denmark. The title has been contested since 1913, in a varying form of competitions. Since 1991, the winners have been found through the Danish Superliga championsh ...

for the first time. Later on, they won two league titles in 2017–18 and 2019–20, then qualified to the

2020–21 UEFA Champions League The 2020–21 UEFA Champions League was the 66th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 29th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Chelsea defea ...

group stage for the first time in their history. During a celebration of the inauguration of the club's new FCM House, Dream 99 on 15 August 2023, it was announced that HEARTLAND, holding company for the Danish clothing chain

Bestseller A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookb ...

, purchased Benham's shares and became majority owner of the club, as well as Portuguese side C.D. Mafra. It was also announced that FCM would embark with a women's football program in 2024. On the final matchday of the championship round in the 2023–24 season, Midtjylland clinched their fourth Superliga title by just one point, following a 3–3 home draw against

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 52,571 (1 January 2025).Brøndby lost 3–2 at home against AGF.

Scouting and developing

Midtjylland have built a reputation of finding and developing promising talents, and have a highly regarded youth academy. In July 2004, Midtjylland was the first Danish club to establish their own football academy, similar to that of French side

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

. The academy attracts players from throughout Denmark, as well as players from FC Ebedei, a partnering club in Nigeria. The club has developed a network of over 100 clubs located in the western part of Jutland. In 2008, Danish centre-back

, a talent of the academy, was sold to

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

for a transfer fee of approximately DKK30 million (€4 million). In 2010, Sune Kiilerich, another talent of the academy, was sold to

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the ...

, while

Winston Reid Winston Wiremu Reid (born 3 July 1988) is a New Zealand former association football, footballer. He is most known for his time as a Defender (association football), defender with club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United and captaining the N ...

, an academy product and New Zealand international, was sold to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

for DKK32 million (€4.26 million). In 2016, vice-captain Erik Sviatchenko was sold for £1.5 million to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

. Other notable sales of academy products include

Pione Sisto Pione Sisto Ifolo Emirmija (; born 4 February 1995) is a Danish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, left winger for Greek club Aris Thessaloniki F.C., Aris. He began his professional career with FC Mid ...

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was foun ...

, Rasmus Nissen to

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, Andreas Poulsen to

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

and Mikkel Duelund to

Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society ...

Stadium

In 2004, the team moved to a new stadium in Herning with a capacity of 11,432 spectators. Midtjylland was the first Danish club to sell the stadium naming rights to a sponsor, resulting in the name "SAS Arena" which has since been changed to

MCH Arena The MCH Arena is an association football stadium situated in the south of Herning, Denmark, that is part of MCH Messecenter Herning complex and owned by MCH Group A/S. It has been the home ground of FC Midtjylland since March 2004. An integrate ...

. The stadium's opening match was on 27 March; it proved to be a success, with Midtjylland beating AB 6–0. Five of the goals were scored by Egyptian striker

. On 22 June 2022, the club started an expansion of MCH Arena that would add a new hospitality lounge and 11 new VIP boxes. The expansion increased the total capacity by 720 seats, taking the capacity from 11,432 to a total of 12,152. The expansion was completed in March 2024.

Supporters

Black Wolves is the official fanclub of FC Midtjylland. It was founded in the beginning of August 1999, as the official fanclub of Ikast FS 1993 "Yellow Flames" changed their name at an extraordinary general meeting. Ultra Boys Midtjylland is the first unofficial faction in Midtjylland, established in 2007 and later renamed Ultras Midtjylland. In 2014, Midtjylland got its second unofficial faction, a youth faction called Midtjylland Ungdom. As of today, there are three unofficial factions: Zartow, Chaos Crew, and Midtjylland Ungdom. Collectively, all FC Midtjylland supporters go under the name of Hedens Drenge. Hedens Drenge is currently Midtjylland's largest fan-based social media account, with a following of around 11,000 on Instagram and Facebook combined. The club's main rival is

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening (), also known as Viborg FF or VFF for short, is a Danish professional association football, football club based in the Central Denmark Region, Central Jutland city of Viborg, Denmark, Viborg. They compete in the Danish ...

. This rivalry is often referred to as The Battle of the Heath, The Battle of Hatred, and The Derby of Midtjylland. The derby is claimed to be the second biggest in Denmark behind that of FC København and Brøndby IF.

Seasons

Honours

**Winners (4): 2014–15, 2017–18, 2019–20, 2023–24 ** Runners-up (5): 2006–07, 2007–08, 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2021–22 * 1st Division **Winners (1): 1999–2000 *

**Winners (3): 2018–19, 2021–22, 2024–25 ** Runners-up (4): 2002–03, 2004–05, 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Youth team

:''See:

FC Midtjylland Academy FC Midtjylland Academy is the youth academy of FC Midtjylland. The academy consists of youth teams on under-19, under-17 and under-15 basis. History FC Midtjylland Academy is the first Danish football academy based on the academy of FC Nantes At ...

Notable players

;1990s *

Søren Skriver Søren Skriver (born 10 June 1973 in Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitution ...

(1994–2004) *

Frank Kristensen Frank Rosendahl Kristensen Michalski (born 10 March 1977) is a Danish association football, football coach and former professional player who played as a forward (association football), forward. He is nicknamed ''Farlige Frank'' ("Dangerous Fra ...

(1997–2011, 2013–2014) *

Peter Skov-Jensen Peter Skov-Jensen (born 9 June 1971) is a Danish former professional football player who was a goalkeeper. He among others played for the German club VfL Bochum in the Bundesliga championship. He works a goalkeeper coach at BK Avarta. Skov-Jense ...

(1999–2005) ;2000s *

(2003–2005) *

Danny Califf Daniel Benjamin Califf (born March 17, 1980) is an American retired professional soccer player who played as a defender. Youth and college career Califf (pronounced kāl'ĭ-f) was born in Orange, California. He started his youth career in socce ...

(2008–2009) *

Mads Albæk Mads Albæk (born 14 January 1990) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for German Regionalliga club SC Weiche Flensburg 08. He has also represented the Danish national under-21 team. Youth career Born in Roskilde, Al ...

(2004–2013) *

Kristijan Ipša Kristijan Ipša (born 4 April 1986) is a Croatian former professional Association football, footballer of Slovenian heritage who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender. He is a former Croatia national under-21 f ...

(2008–2013) *

(2005–2010) *

Mikkel Thygesen Mikkel Thygesen (born 22 October 1984) is a Danish football coach and former player, currently in charge of Danish 2nd Division side Nykøbing FC. Thygesen was capped three times for the Denmark national team, all friendlies. Club career ...

(2004–2007, 2007–2011) *

Jonas Lössl Jonas Bybjerg Lössl (; born 1 February 1989) is a Danish professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Danish Superliga club FC Midtjylland, Midtjylland. After beginning his profe ...

(2008–2014, 2021–) *

(2007–2008) ;2010s * Petter Andersson (2012–2016) *

Rafael van der Vaart Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart (; born 11 February 1983) is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Van der Vaart began his career at AFC Ajax, Ajax's Ajax Youth Academy, youth academ ...

(2016–2018) *

Sylvester Igboun Sylvester Emeka Igbonu (born 8 September 1990), commonly known as Sylvester Igboun, is a Nigerian former professional football player who played as a forward. Igboun is known for his blistering speed. His surname is Igbonu but was misspelled wh ...

(2010–2015) *

Paul Onuachu Ebere Paul Onuachu (born 28 May 1994) is a Nigerian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Southampton F.C., Southampton and the Nigeria national football team, Nigeria n ...

(2013–2019) *

Frank Onyeka Ogochukwu Frank Onyeka (born 1 January 1998) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Brentford and the Nigeria national team. Early life and career Onyeka was born on 1 January 1998 in Benin City, Ed ...

(2018–2021) *

Jakob Poulsen Jakob Bendix Uhd Poulsen (born 7 July 1983) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and current head coach of Danish Superliga club AGF. Poulsen started his senior career with Esbjerg fB, before moving to Dutch sid ...

(2010–2012, 2014–2019) * Rasmus Nissen (2012–2018) * Morten "Duncan" Rasmussen (2012–2016) *

(2013–2016, 2020–2023) * Tim Sparv (2014–2020) ;2020s *

Evander Evander is a masculine given name. It is an anglicization of the Greek name Εὔανδρος (lit. "good man", Latinized ''Evandrus''). It has also been adopted as an anglicization of the Gaelic name Ìomhar (the Gaelic variant of the name Ivor) ...

(2019–2022) *

Raphael Onyedika Raphael Onyedika Nwadike (; born 19 April 2001) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Belgian club Club Brugge and the Nigeria national team. Club career Midtjylland Onyedika used to play street football before jo ...

(2020–2022) *

Anders Dreyer Anders Laustrup Dreyer (; born 2 May 1998) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a right winger for Major League Soccer club San Diego FC and the Denmark national team. Dreyer previously played for Esbjerg fB, Brighton & Hove Albion, ...

(2020–2021, 2022) * Vagner Love (2022)

Personnel

Current technical staff

Management

Coaches

Ove Pedersen Ove Pedersen (born 30 August 1954) is a Danish football manager and a former player. He works as an assistant to the sporting director in FC Midtjylland, Svend Graversen. He previously managed FC Midtjylland and Esbjerg fB to bronze medals in t ...

(1 July 1999 – 30 June 2002) *

Troels Bech Troels Bech (born 29 July 1966) is a Danish professional football manager and former player, who managed Odense Boldklub (OB) to the 2002 Danish Cup trophy. He was the manager of Danish club Esbjerg fB until November 2008 and took over Danish clu ...

(1 July 2002 – 31 December 2003) * Erik Rasmussen (1 Jan 2004 – 30 June 2008) * Thomas Thomasberg (1 July 2008 – 11 August 2009) * Allan Kuhn (12 Aug 2009 – 15 April 2011) *

Glen Riddersholm Glen Riddersholm (born 24 April 1972) is a Danish football manager. Coaching career Riddersholm started as youth coach at Ikast fS and continued in this job, when the club merged with Herning Fremad to form Midtjylland. In 2006, he replaced Ha ...

(16 April 2011– 25 June 2015) * Jess Thorup (12 July 2015 – 10 October 2018) *

Kenneth Andersen Kenneth Andersen (born 23 October 1967) is a Danish football manager. Career Andersen was the manager of various FC Midtjylland youth teams for 13 years before succeeding Jess Thorup in October 2018 as head coach of the club. From 2001 to 2004 ...

(10 October 2018 – 19 August 2019) * Brian Priske (19 August 2019 – 29 May 2021) * Bo Henriksen (31 May 2021 – 28 July 2022) * Henrik Jensen (28 July 2022 – 24 August 2022) *

Albert Capellas Albert Capellas Herms (born 1 October 1967), is a Spanish football manager who is formerly the head coach of the Philippines national team. Managerial career Capellas was born in Avinyó, Barcelona, Catalonia. After a modest career as a player ...

(24 August 2022 – 13 March 2023) * Thomas Thomasberg (23 March 2023 – present)

FC Midtjylland in European competition

FC Midtjylland's first competitive European match was on 9 August 2001 in the

2001–02 UEFA Cup The 2001–02 UEFA Cup was won by Feyenoord at their home ground in the final against Borussia Dortmund. It was the second time they won the competition. Liverpool could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2001–02 ...

, playing Northern Ireland's

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

to a 1–1 draw in the first leg of the Qualifying Round before ultimately advancing to the First Round where they were eliminated by

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

. In 2016 Midtjylland reached the Round of 32 of the

2015–16 UEFA Europa League The 2015–16 UEFA Europa League was the 45th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the seventh season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played between Liverpoo ...

, where they achieved a 2–1 home victory over

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

but would end up losing 6–3 on aggregate following the second leg.

UEFA club coefficient ranking

References

External links

*
Ikast FS's website
(archived 19 June 2005)
Herning Fremad's websiteBlack Wolves – Official fanclubMessecenter Herning's website
() {{DEFAULTSORT:Midtjylland, Fc Football clubs in Denmark Association football clubs established in 1999 Sport in Herning 1999 establishments in Denmark Multi-sport clubs in Denmark